The kid in the ALF T-Shirt and 1989-Burton-era Batman hat standing in front of a bunch of PowerPads was hugely nostalgic for me. If that was taken in Minneapolis, that kid could've been me.

I'm also amazed at how many hands and eyes were on the cartridges throughout production. By 1989 I would have assumed there was more automation to the process.posted by Clinging to the Wreckage at 11:48 AM on December 16, 2011

A man who has brought so much happiness to the world should at least get a cubicle.

It's possible he had one, and didn't want it.

I've been a few places where the Really Important programmer, the guy who founded the company and/or wrote the software mostly on his own, insisted on an informal space. They wanted other programmers close at hand to goof around with and bounce ideas off of, and those other programmers were there to pretend they could contribute code and follow along when the Really Important programmer had something to say.

This era was drawing to a close in the late '90s, and was a holdover from '70s and '80s cowboy-coder culture.posted by Slap*Happy at 12:04 PM on December 16, 2011 [6 favorites]

True enough, Slap*Happy. I'm sure Japanese culture has a lot to do with it too. Even Miyamoto's setup is really humble and they must have been rolling in money by 1988.posted by Gary at 12:53 PM on December 16, 2011 [1 favorite]

Geez couldn't they have used crc verification of the ROMs rather than checking against a master copy?posted by Joe Chip at 4:29 PM on December 16, 2011

I'm sure Japanese culture has a lot to do with it too.

Seconding this. Japanese culture is not big on cubicles. Most offices here are filled with open desks that face each other with seating determined by position/seniority. Cubicles isolate workers not only literally but also figuratively, disrupting workplace harmony and making group discussion/consensus difficult.posted by Kevtaro at 4:41 PM on December 16, 2011

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